This edition of the Photo Blogging Challenge is all about experiences. Whether once-in-a-lifetime, a mundane and everyday activity, good, bad or a special occasion, experiences and relationships are the fabric of life.
Our September was blessed with mostly positive experiences. Here are five…
1. Message Received – We’re Not Getting Any Younger
We realized at the start of September that while we did lots of hiking in Scotland this spring, we hadn’t made it deep into the Canadian Rockies for any hiking this year. For our first outing in Kananaskis, we chose the trail to Piper Pass. Our only other trek along this track was back in 2020 – the depths of COVID isolation.
We figured we could hike at least to the cirque meadow below Piper Pass and then decide whether to continue to the pass or turnaround. It was quite remarkable how much harder we found it this time around. Two reasons, I think: 1) we’re four years older; and 2) it was our first hike in more than 3 months. No matter that we kayak, bike, machine row, etc., there’s something different about carrying a 20+ lb pack on your back and putting one foot in front of the other as you climb up and up!
None-the-less, the scenery was amazing. We got lucky with mostly blue sky, a few touches of fall color and some late-blooming wildflowers. For more scenery from this hike, check out Mr. GeoK’s Relive video recap.
2. Pegging Points
My parents stayed with us for a few days this month. We played four-handed cribbage each evening. The first night, Dad and I won 2 of 3 games. The second night, Mom and K won by the same margin. So the third and final night was to be the tie-breaker. After two games, we were still tied! So it all came down to the last game.
In the end, Dad and I won the final game by just a few points, in part because of the pegging points I earned with this hand…22 points from my aces in one round of pegging. That’s never happened to me before. We had a few other lifetime firsts (and probably onlies) over the three nights, including each player holding a five and laying them down consecutively in a round of pegging. All-in-all, a fun and special experience.
3. Skip the Climb
For our second September hike, we splurged on the experience of a gondola ride to skip the climb to elevation. I’m not sure it saved us much in the end…we still clocked more than 20 km (12 miles). And while the elevation gain was only 400 meters, we opted to descend the full 1100 meters by foot. Sometimes I think going down is harder on the body than going up!
The hiking around Sunshine (a top skiing destination in Banff) is phenomenal. See more from this area here.
4. Sigh of Relief
This one’s a nerve-wracking experience. My 9-year old computer completely froze up one September Saturday morning. I ended up having to hold the power button to shut it off. Then it wouldn’t boot up. I finally figured out how to boot it in “safe” mode and then got this screen…
Imagine my relief when – about 3 1/2 hours later – the automatic repair was finally successful and my screen requested my login credentials. Phew!
And of course, you know what I did as my very next task? A long overdue back-up. When’s the last time you backed-up your devices?
5. Annual Larch March
There’s one weekend in mid- to late-September when all the alpine larch trees have turned gold. Normally steady-busy hiking trails become crowded with once/year hikers out on their annual “larch march.”
We headed out the last Friday in September, to Taylor Lake in Banff National Park. The trail was muddy, we enjoyed snow pellets most of the way up, a snow pellet storm in the upper meadow, and even more mud on the way down. Type Two Fun experiences are some of the best, don’t you think?
Autumn is my favourite time of year to practice intentional camera movement photography. I’m really pleased with how this bonus photo conveys an impression of golden larch trees.
It’s been a pleasure sharing some of our September experiences with you. Thanks for reading. Look for the linkup at the bottom of host PJ’s post to check out other Photo Blogging Challenge participants’ experiences. While you’re there, please consider joining the October challenge. The theme is “It’s fall, y’all!” Y’all need five photos and a blogging platform to participate. The amount of accompanying text is entirely up to you. Hope to see you in a month. Meanwhile, get out and enjoy my favorite time of year!